What is Claudication?

Like many medical names, Claudication comes from Latin. The Latin word Claudare means "to limp" - and so Intermittent Claudication means to limp intermittently.

Those people who get Intermittent Claudication will understand what a good description this is.

In very basic terms, Claudication occurs because of poor circulation to the legs. When a patient is walking, there is not enough blood getting to their legs, and so they get pain or cramping in the muscles. When they stop, the legs need less blood, so the pain slowly eases and they can walk a bit more.

This description is very basic but is all that some people want to know. If you want to understand the condition, and in particular want to understand the treatments available, we need to go into a bit more detail.

The following pages in this section will cover the following: